John Petocz Jr. Memories of my father and uncle

My father supported the movement, as his brother did but I don’t believe they were actually involved in the fighting. They both left their village of Inota, Hungary, in 1956 during the uprising to come to America.

My dad always recalled the turbulent time it was with everything going
on in his country in 1956. He told me how he and my uncle were shot at, crossing the border into Austria, and how they almost got on the wrong train, that was patrolled by Russian soldiers looking for defectors.

They flew to the U.S. on a military transport, and arrived at a place called Camp Kilmer in Edison N.J. where they stayed until relatives who lived in N.J. picked them up and took them to live at their home until, my dad and my uncle were able to make it out on their own. My dad had just turned 18 and my uncle 19 so
they were very young men to be in this new country so far away from their
family and everything they knew. About two years later my dad met my mom, and they married in 1959.

Born in 1960, I was the eldest; my sister was born in 1961 and my brother in 1966. Both my dad and uncle did well for themselves. They worked hard to make a life for themselves and their family in the adopted country they embraced as their new home. Later in life, they both started their own businesses.

I will always remember the stories my dad told and his efforts to come to this country, and make a new life, even at the cost of leaving his loved ones behind.
My dad worked all his life and retired in 2001 planning to return to his native country, to live out the rest of his life.

Unfortunately my dad died only 6 months after he retired due to complications from diabetes. Although my uncle has also struggled with diabetes for the last 15 years, he continues to work.


John Petocz Jr.
John Petocz Jr. lives in Waretown, N.J. and has worked for a township in Monmouth county for the past 10 years. The Petocz family is scattered throughout New Jersey, Florida, and Georgia.